Ellen Geer

New York City, New York, USA

Biography

​From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.   Ellen Ware Geer (born August 29, 1941) is an American actress, professor, screenwriter, film director and theatre director.Geer has enjoyed a long, distinguished career in film and television. She began her career appearing as a nun in the 1968 Richard Lester drama Petulia. Geer followed this with an appearance in 1969's The Reivers with her father, Will Geer. In 1971, Geer played the deceased wife of the lead character in Kotch, appearing throughout the movie in flashbacks. That same year, she became a regular on The Jimmy Stewart Show (which aired until the following year) and had a supporting role in the acclaimed comedy Harold and Maude. In 1974, she starred in two films which she also wrote: Silence and Memory of Us. Both featured her father. The remainder of Geer's 1970s career consisted primarily of guest appearances and made-for-TV movies. TV shows on which she appeared during this time included Police Story, The Streets of San Francisco, Baretta, Barnaby Jones, Charlie's Angels, CHiPs, and two episodes of Fantasy Island. Her TV movie credits during this time included Babe (1975), The Lindbergh Kidnapping Case (1976), The Trial of Lee Harvey Oswald (1977), and A Shining Season (1979). The only theatrical film on which she worked in the late '70s was Jonathan Kaplan's Over the Edge in 1979. The remainder of her TV credits include guest appearances on Star Trek: The Next Generation, The Waltons, Quincy, M.E., Dallas, The Practice, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, ER, NYPD Blue, and Cold Case. She also had recurring roles on Falcon Crest and Beauty and the Beast. She played future Piper Halliwell on the WB series Charmed in the series finale. In October 2007, the actress returned briefly to Desperate Housewives which she briefly appeared in before. Geer has served since 1978 as Artistic Director of the Will Geer Theatricum Botanicum, a professional repertory, open-air theater in Topanga Canyon, California. Geer has also served as a Visiting Associate Professor, teaching acting, at the University of California, Los Angeles School of Theater for 12 years.

Movies

Paris is an American television series that appeared on the CBS television network from September 29, 1979 to January 15, 1980. A crime drama, the show is notable as the first-ever appearance of renowned actor James Earl Jones in a lead role on television and was created by Steven Bochco, who later achieved fame for Hill Street Blues and NYPD Blue, also served as executive producer. The program told the story of Los Angeles Police Captain Woody Paris, who supervised a team of young detectives. The rookie investigators were led by Sergeant Stacy Erickson and included officers Charlie Bogart, Ernesto Villas, and Willie Miller. Hank Garrett portrayed Deputy Chief Jerome Bench, Paris' superior, and, in an unusual turn for police dramas of that era, Paris' home and off-duty life was given considerable attention in the plots, with Lee Chamberlin playing his wife, Barbara. Paris was also shown moonlighting as a professor of criminology at a local university. Although Paris was critically acclaimed for its portrayal of the tension between the professional Paris character and his often impetuous underlings, CBS scheduled the show in one of the worst possible timeslots on a weekly schedule: Saturdays at 10 p.m./9 Central. All three networks debuted new shows for the 1979-80 season in that slot; only ABC's Hart to Hart survived its first 13 weeks. Toward the end of its run, CBS moved it to Tuesdays at 10/9, but to no avail. Edward DeBlasio produced the show for MTM Enterprises, which would unveil, during the next season, executive producer Bochco's landmark Hill Street Blues, on NBC.

More info
Paris
1979